Cyclus Campaign Supports Over One Thousand Rwandan School Children
Arjowiggins Graphic has donated over one thousand exercise books to school children in Rwanda as part of its Cyclus campaign. The 1,385 books will be used by the SOS Children’s Villages charity to support children in primary school education in Africa.
Antalis, one of the distributors for Cyclus in the UK, supported the campaign entitled ‘Do you believe in Recycled Paper?’. Every time a customer requests a sample pack of Cyclus 100% recycled paper from the campaign dedicated website an A4 school exercise book is donated to the SOS Children’s Villages.
Marian Thomasson, Marketing Communications Manager at Antalis explains the charity’s work:
“Almost all children in Rwanda are enrolled in primary school, but many drop out soon after enrolment – primarily due to poverty. This results in almost one in four children failing to attend primary school, leading to 23 percent of the country’s young people aged 15 – 24 years being unable to read or write.”
“We’re delighted that we’ve managed to support the donation of over a thousand books to help the campaign so far. Resources such as exercise books are often unavailable for children in Rwanda, so it’s great to know that these donations can really enhance the lives of children at the SOS Children’s Villages.”
The SOS Children’s Villages campaign gives 1,649 children in Rwanda the opportunity to gain a primary school education. To date Arjowiggins Graphic has donated 1,385 notebooks to the SOS Children’s Villages campaign in Rwanda, which has helped:
- 430 school children in Byumba
- 418 school children in Gikongoro
- 204 school children in Kayonza
- 597 school children in Kigali
The SOS Children’s Villages school cooperates with public schools in the local area around the Children’s Village. The teachers at the SOS-school share educational experiences and materials with teachers from the public schools, and thus the SOS-school helps improve the quality of teaching so that more children in Kayonza can gain a quality education. As evidence of the impact this has on education, in 2012 the SOS-school in Kayonza was ranked the 12th best school out of 68 in the area.
Angela De Vorchik, Operational Marketing Manager at Arjowiggins Graphic, said:
“Enabling customers to interact with the campaign by donating an exercise book when they request a sample pack helped raise awareness of the great work the SOS Children’s Village is doing.
“We hope the Cyclus exercise books we have donated can help the SOS Children’s Village to support even more children in Rwanda to reach primary school education.”
Case Study
When Celine and her siblings lost their parents, her oldest brother took care of the family with the help of SOS Children’s Villages family program.
Unfortunately, he soon became involved in crime, and abandoned his younger siblings, leaving the family alone without a carer.
However, Celine and her siblings came to the SOS Children’s Village in Kayonza where they can receive a quality education. Celine is now in second grade at the SOS-school, and her favourite subjects are English, Kinyarwanda and Mathematics.